Of Sacrifices and Chance
by Aisalynn
Summary: Giant monsters flying around eating people, holes in the fabric of time, magical, glowing blue boxes and his grown up daughter from the future--it was all completely mad. --Doctor/Rose. Spoilers for Journey's End.


**Disclaimer: I do not own Doctor Who, or any of the characters from the show. I am not making money from this. **

**A/N: Written for the Doctor/Rose Last Author Standing. The prompt was to write the Doctor and Rose from someone else's point of view. **

Pete watched her as she sat alone in the back of the church, shoulders slumped, blonde head bent low, turning that key over and over in her hands. She had his father's chin and his mother's hand--the hair was obviously Jackie's, and the smile…Well, he'd like to think the smile was his.

Rose, his daughter. It all made sense now.

Well, not really. Giant monsters flying around eating people, holes in the fabric of time, magical, glowing blue boxes and his grown up daughter from the future--it was all completely mad. But at least he knew now why he trusted her so easily, and why when she looked at him with those big, glowing eyes he suddenly felt the need to be better, to never let her down.

Even though he did.

He could see it in her eyes, in the way she watched him, how she clung to every word he said. Despite what she told him about picnics and bed time stories, he knew the truth.

He wasn't there for her.

Instead there was _him_, the Doctor. Pete didn't know what exactly they were to each other, but he'd noticed the way they watched each other, secret glances when they thought the other wasn't looking, and how even when they were fighting they couldn't stay away from each other, like they were drawn to one another, no matter what.

Maybe he should've felt threatened, knowing that the Doctor was there for his daughter when he couldn't be, or worried about how much older the man was than her, but he saw how much he cared for her, knew it the moment he looked out the window and saw that car circling the church. He may not understand it all--time travel and disappearing cars and paradoxes--but he did know one thing.

That man loved his daughter enough to sacrifice the entire world, just so she wouldn't get hurt.

What more could a man want for his daughter?

Now it was Pete's turn to sacrifice something, his turn to be there for her. He felt sure of what he was doing as he kissed Jackie, said goodbye to Rose (both of them, who were the same and it was so confusing and it hurt to say goodbye). All those plans and crazy ideas and inventions he had, they all came to nothing, would have most likely always come to nothing, but he could save her, his daughter, (with Jackie's hair and her nose and his smile) the one good thing that came from him.

The Doctor had sacrificed the world for Rose, and now he, Pete, would sacrifice his world for hers.

_And it's all worth it_, he thought as he ran out the church doors, _if it will give them a chance. _

---

The cold, salty wind beat against Pete's back as he watched the two figures on the beach. They stood very close together, and he imagined that, if it weren't for the void between universes that separated them, there would be no space between them at all. Maybe they would hug, wrap their arms around each other in some fierce emotion, smiles on their faces, tears in her eyes, or maybe they would stand just like that, quiet and gentle, and his hand would reach out to take hers, as he'd seen them do so many times before.

But they _were _separated, and Pete watched as she brought her hand up to touch him, saw him shake his head, knew the defeated slump of her shoulders. She was crying, he didn't have to see her face to know it.

He'd seen it enough over these past few months.

In the years after they left his universe he'd gone over the time when she told him he was her father again and again, imagining different ways he could have handled it, _better_ ways. He'd always regretted turning away from her, and when Jackie and Rose ended up in his universe after Canary Warf, he thought, this is it, his chance to make it up to her, to be the dad she never had, and he never had the chance to be.

But, no matter how hard he tried to get to know her, to be there for her… it never mattered. She was never there. Her mind was always in another universe, always on him.

He thought maybe the time she needed a father had passed, maybe she needed something else now.

The Doctor's image disappeared, and Pete watched his (almost) daughter run straight to Jackie's arms. He decided then that he would help her, he would do all he could to break the seal between the universes and get Rose back to the Doctor, even if that meant he had to give up his place in her life.

He'd had his chance years before, it was time to give her hers.

--

He watched them, the daughter he thought he'd never see again and this new Doctor who wasn't really the Doctor and he watched them as they edged around each other, sneaking uncertain looks when the other wasn't looking, like they weren't sure what to make of one another now that the whole world had changed around them. Rose would get that confused frown on her face and the Doctor would be still and quiet, solemn, almost.

They were like that for weeks.

Until one day, when Pete showed him Torchwood's collection of sonic technology and the Doctor gave a loud "Brilliant!" and Rose gasped and smiled, a big toothy smile with her tongue in between her teeth and the Doctor stopped and then he smiled too, and they just stood that way, smiling at each other like they were the most important thing in the universe.

In two universes.

Pete watched them and thought that because the Doctor loved Rose enough to sacrifice his happiness for hers, they had a chance at this, at life and love and family...

They had more than a chance.


End file.
